reviews

Summer Friends and Winter Friends Author: George R. R. Martin The war across Westeros for one true king has degenerated into violent and underhanded skirmishes. George R. R. Martin’s lush fantasy scape with its opulent cities and diverse denizens has transformed into an ashy post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Martin is famous for showing no preference to main characters, and A Feast for Crows begins (and ends) no differently. We have further deaths, compounding those that went before in A Storm of Swords, and there aren’t many left to claim the kingdom. But the sudden removal of would-be tyrants and benevolent rulers alike hasn’t changed what has already [...]

Poly-amorous Love Circles and Zombies Author: Laurell K. Hamilton A new house for me meant a place for the books – finally. That meant opening old boxes, cataloging books, putting cherished series back together, and even admitting that it was time to donate some of the lesser denizens of my library. During all this fussing and reminiscing, I came across my original collection of Anita Blake books, back when Anita was stolidly single, edgy without being cruel, and still slept in a bed full of plush penguins while she had nightmares about her gruesome yet ultimately altruistic police work. Those [...]

A Decadent, Historical Soap Opera Author: Alexander Chee Combining the audacious scandal of the opera world with the high life of Second Empire Paris, Alexander Chee’s Queen of the Night is a story of rising falcon soprano Lilliet Berne. Lilliet is both an escape artist and an expert in transformation. Morphing from a poor farmer’s daughter in America to a French singing sensation requires a brutal, and often surprising path, one from circus performer, to courtesan, to bought woman, to death, to life again as a spy, and so much more until the woman presented to the world has metamorphosed into [...]